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The LA County Fair officially started today at 3pm with rides, games, shows, concerts, new animal exhibits and of course, a huge variety of food. Every year, the food is a huge draw at the fair, and this year will not disappoint as they are more than prepared to appeal to every palette and appetite . You will see the usual fried fare from longtime fair favorites such as Chicken Charlie, but the fair does have some Gluten-Free options, one of my personal favorites; Terri’s Berries and then there is the Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Marketplace. The Fair will run through September 30th. Fun events and concerts are planned throughout the entire month and are sure to thrill and wow us. This past Tuesday I was invited out to a food preview, and oh boy, make sure to wear comfortable clothing to the fair so that you can fully enjoy all the food the fair has to offer. I grew up going to this fair, and by the tastes of food and drink I’ve had the pleasure of indulging in, I am so excited to attend the fair again this year.

There was just a handful of vendors on hand, but nevertheless it was a FANTASTIC sampling of all things fair food, so without further ado, here are the much anticipated photos of the fair food we got to sample (Which is why you’re here I’m sure is for the fair food photos, not to hear me ramble on and on endlessly… 😉 You can find these food vendors while out and about at the fair this year.

1) Ten Pound Buns

Ten Pound Buns makes wonderful freshly made sourdough bread topped with all sorts of delicious toppings. They have a variety of options including BBQ chicken, the ultimate with everything on it, pepperoni, bacon Nutella, meat lovers, jalapeno and cheese, to just their original with cheese. They have 7 different varieties to choose from. I decided on the BBQ Chicken, it was absolute perfection. The sauce was not too sweet, not too smoky.

The BBQ Chicken

I also had a sample of Jamie’s Bacon Nutella (be sure to check out her blog post about the food preview for more mouth-watering pics. 🙂 I was hesitant to try this, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well the sweet and salty mixed together.

2) Skinny Girl Bar and Food

Next stop was, “Skinny Bar,” as I needed something to wash down that amazing BBQ Chicken creation. New to the fair this year, these fabulous and delicious cocktails are low-calorie, but still pleasantly flavorful. These drinks are especially designed for women and come in margaritas, lemonades, and cosmos. My favorite was the margarita. Very refreshing on such a WARM summer’s night!!!

3) Tasti Chips

Tasti Chips with Bacon Cheddar Cheese

For all of you Gluten-Free fans out there, make sure to make a stop at Tasti Chips!! These crispy “Tasti Chips” are made in peanut oil and are completely gluten-free! My advice to everyone out there is to ADD the Bacon Cheddar cheese to your order (NOTE TO SELF: the cheese isn’t gluten-free!) You can also get them topped with numerous other toppings if you so desire.

4) Big Kona Huna Shaved Ice

Big Kona Huna Shaved Ice

Hawaiian Shaved Ice has always been a favorite, and this night was no different. The Shaved Ice was a big hit and everyone loved their personal creations. What makes it “Hawaiian” you may be asking yourself? Well, they take Sweet and Condensed Milk and pour a very generous amount of it over your masterpiece of flavors for you.

One of the personal favorites of the evening ammong our group was their “Root Beer” Flavor. Here I tried their Bahama Mama and Pina Colada flavors. Very tropical and just want I wanted on such a WARM warm night!

5) Ice Cream and Funnel Cakes

Always a fair favorite, goodies abound of ice cream creations and funnel cakes that will be here for you to enjoy throughout the fair. You can never go wrong with a dipped cone or funnel cake with powdered sugar or a fruit topping!!

6) Monster Grill

Burgers, corn dogs, and fries, Oh my!! You can get your corn dog on a stick fix here as well as lots and lots of fries. Oh and did I mention you can get fries here? 😉

7) Harold & Belle’s to Geaux

Want to try something a little bit different from your typical fair food? Love some good old Louisiana Creole food straight from New Orleans? Then you need to stop by this booth. They had samples of fried catfish, Crawfish Etouffe and for a delicious dessert they were also dishing up some wonderful bread pudding. This booth was one of my favorites of the night. The Crawfish Etouffe and the bread pudding were both amazing and I will definitely be back for more of this exquisite yumminess!

Crawfish Etouffe

Bread Pudding

8) Chicken Charlie

A long time fair favorite for many who love deep-fried foods. With deep-fried cookie dough, deep-fried cereal, deep-fried kool aid ( I STILL want to try this), deep-fried Oreos, deep-fried avocados and for the more adventurous– deep-fried frog legs can you really go wrong? They even had deep-fried Dodger Dogs! I truly enjoyed the deep-fried cereal! I WILL be back to try the deep-fried Kool Aide as this was not available to sample that night.

Deep Fried Cookie Dough

Deep Fried Cinnamon Toast Crunch

This year they will also be having a “Pineapple Express” location where they will only be serving their “Naked Pineapple Bowl.” As I have been trying to eat healthier lately, this was one of my genuine favorites of the entire night. This delectable bowl comes with rice, pineapple, and eight pieces of shrimp. I love anything with pineapple in it and shrimp, so you can’t go wrong with this one.

Naked Pineapple Bowl

9) Fresh Frys

Fresh Frys is a two-time winner of the O.C. Fair’s Outstanding Fair Food award and serves freshly baked French Fries for your enjoyment. They are also well known for their famous Blooming Onions. However, one thing I was told upon entering the food preview was that I just HAD to try these marshmallow yammies! Sweet potato fries with fluffy, gooey, marshmallow cream goodness drizzled all over them. The sweet was just what I needed after having the saltier Tasti Chips. Here is a pic of their marshmallow yammies. YUM or should I say YAM?? 😉

10) Pink’s Hot Dogs

The oh so famous Pink’s Hot Dogs are back at the fair for another year. Home of the world’s best chili dog, among other favorites doused in ketchup, mustard, onions and relish. That evening they were sampling their Matt Kenseth hot dog with jalapenos, onions, guacamole, spicy mustard and ketchup.

11) C’est La Vie/Flavors of France

Last, but certainly not least, for the first time at the LA County Fair is “Flavors of France” from C’est La Vie. These amazing artisans have some great restaurants right here in our own backyard in SoCal; as they are located in Laguna Beach and are here at the fair to bring Paris to us. Their booth is all about delectable combinations like strawberries and Nutella swirled together into a freshly made crepe and other tasty french pastries, they have some spectacular talent with the endless creations they came up with. Admittedly, being the sweet tooth that I am, this was the first vendor I stopped at and I just had to have a piece of their cheesecake before having anything else. It did not disappoint, and I am pretty picky about my cheesecake! 😉 Chocolate Mousse, Fruit Tarts, Napoleons, Cheesecakes, and many more dazzling options await you from these fine folks. You must make it one of your stops at the fair, I know I will. You will not be disappointed. Shown below is the Chocolate Bomb, Fruit Tart, and Chocolate Mousse. Above are their fruit tarts and Napoleons.

A beautiful sunset at the LA County Fair.

The Fair is here just in time for the long Labor Day weekend, at the Fairplex in Pomona, 1101 W. McKinley Avenue, and runs through Sept. 30. This is the earliest opening date ever for the fair, now going on its 90th year.

NOW, what you have ALL been waiting for!!! ONE lucky reader has a chance to win a 4 Pack of Tickets to the LA County Fair!

No purchase necessary, void where prohibited. Must be a California Resident and be 18 years of age or older. Winner will be chosen through the use of random.org and will be notified via email. Giveaway ends at 9pm PST on 09/08/2012. All other rules can be found here.

Disclosure: I was invited out to the Media Food Preview Night at the LA County Fair. All food and drinks were provided to me for free, and I was provided with a 4 pack of tickets and a parking pass to the LA County Fair. All opinions stated above are my own.

So the last time I had time to write about the #IWillRockThis weight loss challenge I was in 16th place out of 33rd. Right where I was aiming to be considering the birthday week circumstances. Last week I was able to jump up to 5th place, and this week I am sitting pretty in 3rd place!! This waking up at 5am to fit a workout into my schedule for the day seems to be working so far! 😉 Give me another 2 weeks or so and I should be (*finger, toes, eyes, legs, arms, and whatever else crossed!*) in 1st place and hope to stay there til the end of this on July 1st!!

Needless to say I am very motivated to keep going after seeing this weeks results this afternoon. 1st place is very well in reach for me. Here are the current standings. 🙂 Congrats to all the ladies so far! This has been a great group of woman to be in this challenge with!!

HDufour 8.31%

CCBerry 7.45%

E.M. 7.01% <——- THAT’S ME!!!!!!

L P 5.63%

K B 5.58%

S B 5.32%

JCross 5.15%

L H P 4.58%

MS 3.93%

N S 3.80%

JS 3.61%

M Saharic 3.41%

A Bo 3.11%

J DeV 3.01%

N C 2.53%

The Rehan Family Blog – Ali 2.50%

N L 2.44%

C West 2.26%

D Pratt 2.01%

J Ferrara 1.98%

R L Goddard 1.79%

S C 1.63%

J H G 1.45%

K T K 1.31%

E Vee 0.98%

W N 0.79%

K Z Gs 0.75%

J W 0.65%

K A 0.59%

A O 0.49%

E F 0.48%

T J 0.10%

M B N 0.00%

I’ve been hitting up the Trader Joe’s nearby to fill up on all sorts of tasty salads for lunch and other low-calorie snacks. This combined with making it to the gym almost everyday and trying to drink more water and stay away from soda is what has helped me out so far. Hoping for another 6 weeks of smooth sailing to inch my way to the top. 🙂 Any other tips or suggestions is always welcome as I’m always open to new ideas on how to achieve my goals faster and to mix things up a bit!!!

Ok, so I went ahead and did it. I entered this Challenge sponsored by one of my fellow So Cal Lady bloggers. Go check it out; Wendy Will Blog— I Will Rock This Challenge. I don’t know if my current job situation enticed me to want to do this (since work is beyond slow due to all the budget cuts in education lately among other things), or the fact that I have quite a few weddings, my grandparents 65th wedding anniversary parties to go to, and the summer just coming up in general and I would love to lose like a gazillion pounds, or my competitive spirit since I know this is something I could do well in, if I really decide to put the effort into it. I think it is a combination of all of these things together that pushed me over the edge to take the plunge and go for it. This challenge started just over an hour ago on May 1st. It ends on July 1st.

I just finished (or am just finishing now I SHOULD say) my last soda I plan on having until this is over, or possibly longer. So HA! Yeah, we’ll see how that goes, right? I plan on drinking a LOT more water, and exercising more (hoping this challenge will give me more motivation to do so, instead of making an excuse not to get out and go to the gym or get outside) I usually have been going to the gym at least 3 days a week, but would like to be going at least 5 now. Going out for less Happy Hours and dinners will also help, I always make my own lunches for the most part, so that’s not an issue. Cutting back on the Starbucks would probably be ideal too I am thinking…. I’ve done this before, losing weight, so I know it is possible! I just need to find enough things to keep myself busy with.

One problem though…. this would all be PERFECT if it weren’t for my birthday being THIS THURSDAY on the 3rd! (See post below about all the TASTY YUMMY DELICOUSNESS you can get for your birthday MONTH) Plus how can I say no to all the happy hours and dinners with friends when it’s for my own BIRTHDAY? Looks like I will have to say no to a lot of the birthday goodies, but will still have a few things to go out and celebrate or opt for any healthy options there might be on the menu. I DO have to have one Pop Rock Margarita though!! Otherwise…. I WILL stick to just water!!! And CAKE! How can you say no to a piece of your own birthday cake, especially if its cheesecake? Seems pretty rude to me, if you refuse to take a piece of your own cake… 😉

I have to weigh in sometime today… So.Not.Looking.Forward.To.That 😛 If I don’t end up working today, I think I will spend the day at the gym. Get a head start on working off all those calories I will probably gain from any birthday festivities going on this next week. If I can just make it to May 7th, then I think I’ll be ok. Will take the whole not eating out part more seriously then replaced by much healthier options… 😉

Only 61 more days and 22 1/4 hours left to go… But who’s keeping track of that… Certainly NOT ME! 😉